Reddraggon88gta | 1988 GTA



WS6firebird | 1983 Trans Am



Bagged 1LE | 1991 Z28

 

First off, I just wanted to thank the members who nominated and seconded the nomination.

My car is a 1988 Trans Am GTA with the L98 that it I call the Red Dragon. A few years back after finally getting a garage I started looking for a project car so for nearly a year I would scour Craigslist for a third gen. Finally I found a simple ad for my car in Plattsburgh, NY, it looked solid and the price was reasonable at $3500 and it only had 78,000 miles on it. After going to look at I was stunned at the condition, paint looked all original and good minus the spoiler and hood and the interior was the cleanest I’d seen on a third gen (even had the mint original factory mats). Underneath was also in great shape and the car even ran good. Car was also one of the most unmolested third gens I had seen. But, I went home to do some research on here after writing down RPO codes and the ad disappears...so I kick myself for missing out...a month later it reappears on CL and I jump on it the next day with my buddy and I bought it for 3k. Turns out a guy left a $100 after I looked and never came back.

After getting the car home I tore into it right away performing a full tune up and started it on the path of a light resto-mod that I could daily on nice summer/fall days for my 100 mile daily commute (which it has never stranded me). I love the stock appearance of these cars but just wanted to slightly improve things with better parts when replacing worn out stuff and get everything on the car working as it should . This site has been a guiding light on almost every project I have done on the car that is too much to list here but can be viewed on my build thread here if interested, lots of pictures too:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/members-firebirds/756315-1988-gta-project.html

Honestly the best part of this car is how it makes me feel when I drive it, guaranteed smile for me, and the comments of ppl who remember these when new. Almost as rewarding as driving it is working on the car and fixing something or improving it, it’s a great feeling. Also my 5 year old son loves to ride in my “hot rod” as he calls it and the plan is it will be his someday.


Day one

 

Here are some more pictures.

 

Good luck to everyone and here’s some updated photos of my car.

thank you all for the votes and nominating my car

 

First of all, thank you for the nomination of my 1983 Trans Am. This car means a lot to me and is my dream car. I began dreaming of owning one of these cars at age 4 in 1982 when I sat down with my Dad to watch the premiere of Knight Rider. In the years that followed I played with plastic 1980’s Trans Ams and hotwheels cars imagining owning the real thing. Over the years I amassed a large collection of Trans Am toy cars and memorabilia and a mega large Knight Rider toy collection. Once I was old enough to drive I had my mind set on buying a black t top trans am with an automatic transmission and tan interior. I wanted an 82 or 83 since that was the Knight Rider style car with the black bowling ball wheels. I did not want to build or buy a replica tv car but rather just wanted the car that the show was built around as I’ve been fascinated with this Trans Am for years now. Long story short finding an intact Trans Am like mine in black with a tan interior and automatic transmission was not easy. There was a few that came up in years past but I was never in a position to buy them or they turned out to be not as represented but I never gave up the search! Finally, in the summer of 2018 I was thumbing thru the hemmings auto book at a local bookstore and saw the Trans Am I now own! The car was located in upstate New York. The ad was accompanied by an email address so I emailed the seller and started emailing back and forth. I am the 3rd owner of the car and the person I bought the car from knew the original owner. It turns out the seller did not have a smart phone to text me pictures and I did not make the trip to New York to see the car so I took a major leap of faith and bought the car sight unseen! About a week later the car was brought to me in an enclosed trailer and the rest is history! I got the car of my dreams home in August of 2018 and then started to make it my own by having some work done to it. The car only has 26,000 original miles. The car sat for a long time in a barn and so a lot of mechanical work had to be done to get the crossfire engine running as smooth as it can! I had multiple gaskets, seals, etc replaced along with fluids and a new set of tires. There were numerous other mechanical operations that took place but in short the car runs phenomenal now. The car is all stock inside with no modifications. The driver side upper black door rail trim had a few cracks so I had that replaced with a new OEM piece. The tan carpet and seats are as new and have always been covered in a towel. The original floor mats I took out of the car to preserve their as new appearance. Exterior wise the car did suffer from years of bad washing with bath towels in the eighties etc so was full of swirl marks etc. I had a 2 stage paint correction done and a full buff and polish and the original single stage black paint just shines now! The decals and emblems are also all original. The car originally had the 15 inch gold turbo fin wheels but I had to have the 15 inch turbo cast wheels with bowling ball hubcaps like the Knight Rider car has. After searching long and hard for a set of these wheels which are very hard to find I found a set off of a parts car in New York and purchased them! They are in great shape with no curb rash. My Dad and I cleaned them up and had them mounted and balanced on my new tires. They look awesome! I then needed the bowling ball wheel covers which were next to impossible to find so I had a set made from a mold of the original from a manufacturer in the Netherlands that sells Knight Rider parts. Once I received the hubcaps I had them painted from a local auto body shop and they were then mounted onto the rims and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out! Additionally the car had some door dings on both sides of the car that were professionally removed with paintless dent repair. The car is now mechanically sound and the body is straight and original and I could not be happier with the end result of the time and money that has been put into it to get it to where it is now! The thumbs up and looks I get with this car is unlike anything I’ve ever driven new or old. This car encapsulates all I set out to buy and dreamed of owning since being a small kid. I love driving it, looking at it and showing it. It’s truly a timeless vehicle that defines the eighties in my opinion. I will share some additional photos of the car in a separate thread immediately following this one. Thank you again for the nomination!

 

Hi

1983 Trans Am original crossfire V8 engine

 

 

 

Hey! How about a little info?!?!

 

sure thing! The car is a 91 z28 1LE all original interior minus the wheel and stuff, original 305 motor and 5 speed trans with 53k miles. Found it sitting in a garage from a family friend so had to pick it up and do my touches haha

upgrades I did are ridetech shockwave air suspension, airlift 3p management, viair dual 555c compressors, mooneyes California flake steering wheel, mooneyes og shift ****, mooneyes valor dashmat, mooneyes chrome rear view mirror, opt7 underglow kit, Kenwood Bluetooth radio, kicker speakers front and rear.

The wheels are Re Amemiya aw7’s from Japan I had custom drilled out and built for the car. Still had to run a 1”1/4 spacer up front for the hub.

 

Nice Work Red dragon, your car cleaned up real nice, and you are right about the way you feel behind the wheel

 

At first, I resisted any changes to the original 1982 Firebird design. But over time, I came to prefer the later third gen Firebirds, 1987-1990.

But ws6firebird's car is a classic and the one that I fell in love with back when the 3rd gens launched. It was my favorite car in late 1981 and, along with the changes gradually made up until 1992, is still my favorite car today. This one looks like a perfectly-preserved museum piece.

I'm not a big fan of "KITT conversions," which IMO have kind of ruined some great cars. The recovery effort on this car is the best tribute to the Knight Rider cars: restoring the original car that KITT was based on.

 

Fantastic Car. Great Job. This is from a old man that loves Third Gen Camaros.

 

Thank you so much for these nice compliments! It’s nice to hear from a fellow 3rd gen enthusiast that loves these cars as much as I do! I’m very proud and happy with how everything turned out on my car and It’s such a blast to drive around in and just look at. Such a rare car in this condition. Thanks again and have a great day!

 

Red dragon your GTA is awesome! I had a bright red 88 GTA in college. I absolutely LOVED that car!!

Bagged 1LE....what can I say? Killer car, awesome stance, bitchin wheels, and a legit 1LE, 5 speed to boot. I love it! That's why you got my nomination!

WS6firebird, what a stellar example of an early Trans Am. My first car was a black and gold 83 Trans Am hard top. If you ever decide to sell that car, send me a PM. I'm in Iowa, so I'm your neighbor to the south!

Great cars guys!!

 

thanks man! I tried uploading a video but I’m a noob on this whole forum on my phone still so oh well haha

also realized I didn’t have a photo of my engine bay so here you guys go. (Don’t mind the pliers, my struts blew and waiting on new ones)

 

Thanks Dagwood! Nice to hear from you again Neighbor! I appreciate the nice comments! Have a good one!

 

Thanks Dagwood! I appreciate the compliment.

 

Are other people like me, where you feel kind of bad after voting because the other cars are so nice?

 

This is a great groups of cars and people. All three contestants have great enthusiasm and personalities. Looking at the numbers I think it's already clear who the winner will be, but I hope everybody had fun being in the spotlight this month.

On a different note, there are only 2 more events this year and there will not be a car of the year.... You people are never going to guess what I've got brewing.

 

fbody-boat category month?